Microsoft makes it easier for indies to publish physical games on Xbox

With each passing year we have seen physical media decrease in popularity, with both Sony and Microsoft leaning into it by creating discless versions of their current-gen systems. That said, there is still very much a market for physical game discs – though on Xbox in particular this has been somewhat of an issue with minimum order requirements being relatively high. Fortunately, Microsoft is now making it much easier for indies to print Xbox discs.

As part of GDC 2023, Microsoft celebrated and spoke on 10 years of their ID@Xbox program; created in order to make publishing indie games much easier on the platform. Taking to the Xbox Blog, Microsoft discussed the many ways in which they have pushed these program’s goals, saying:

“Over the years, several programs have started at Xbox in direct response to independent developers' feedback, from our early access program, Xbox Game Preview, to cross-platform play with friends on PC and other manufacturers' consoles, as well as cross-progression, so players' progress in a game elsewhere can carry over to Xbox. That last one took a minute to happen, and we thank all the devs who worked closely with us to make it happen in a way that was robust and safe for our player community.”

Speaking on the future of ID@Xbox, they continued, “Ironically, we've even enabled retail disc publishing for developers in ID@Xbox, Xbox's digitalself-publishing program. This retail program is still in the pilot phase with a limited number of partners, but developers can make physical versions of their games with only a low ‘minimum order quantity’ of physical units from Xbox. We look forward to rolling this out to more broad participation in the near future.”

No concrete details on the minimum order quantity was shared, but Microsoft claimed that more information will be offered next month. In the past, Microsoft has reportedly had the highest minimum order requirements out of the big 3 console manufacturers. When accounting for the fact that Xbox is resting at 3rd place when compared to PlayStation and Nintendo, the disparity was notable. As such, it is highly welcome to see that indies will hopefully be able to publish physical games on Xbox moving forward with much less resistance.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of ID@Xbox? Do you still buy physical game discs? Let us know down below.

Become a Patron!